Critical Theory and Latino Gay Men: Silenced Voices in Literature

The first gay novel I recall reading was The Lord Wont Mind by Gordon Merrick(1970). I quickly followed up with the other two novels of the trilogy, One for the Gods (Merrick, 1971) and Forth into the Light (Merrick, 1974). For the most part, reading the story of love between Peter and Charlie was a positive experience because unlike many other writers of gay themes, the story did not end in suicide or deep despair. Merrick was one of the first writers to insist that a gay relationship could in fact be a happy one. The title of the first book comes from a conversation between Peter and a black maid, who makes the statement, “I say if it’s love, the lord wont mind.” The story is set in high society, among Ivy league educated and world travelers. Reading about the lives of these beautiful rich men was made more exotic by the encounter of two men loving each other. It was far removed from my experience as a 15 year old Chicano growing up in a Pentecostal church in Denver Colorado during the 1970s. It left a lasting impression that only powerful white gay men could experience this kind of freedom.

Over the years, I have made my way into many bookstore that specialize in selling gay themed books, but to my recollection, none of the books on the shelf were by Chicano gay men. Despite the proliferation of a Chicano and Latino literary renaissance in the wake of the Chicano movement of the 1960s, few Chicano and Latino gay men have been published to date. It was not until the mid 1980s that I even became aware of the influential tradition of Chicana and Latina lesbian writings(Moraga & Anzaldua, 1984). Chicana lesbians were able to form coalitions based on feminist principals with other lesbians of color, white lesbians and non-lesbian feminist in order to facilitate the process of establishing their own publishing venues and opportunities. Latino gay men have neither experienced an overt politicization around a Latino gay identity nor had access to support from Latino and white gay male publishing institutions. Consequently, Chicano and Latino gay male writers have yet to approach such a degree of visibility. Such invisibility inevitably raises the question why are there so few published works by Latino gay men?

If we apply critical theory to this question, we can identify a number of plausible reasons why the voices of Latino gay men have been silenced. In the process, their very experience has been erased from public consciousness. One way to approach this question is to recognize the omnipresence of machismo in Latino cultures. Machismo, defined as a strong or exaggerated sense of masculinity stressing attributes such as physical courage, virility, domination of women, and aggressiveness that contributes to the refusal of many Latino men who engage in same-sex activity to identify themselves as "gay." According to psychoanalyst Goldwert (1985), this patriarchal culture equation has special resonance for Mexicans and remains deeply embedded in the Mexican psyche. He explains that it has symbolic roots in cultural myths surrounding the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the sixteenth century. This colonial drama unfolds with the Spanish conquistador's playing the role of active, masculine intruders who raped the passive, feminine Indian civilization. Goldwert suggests that

…there now exists in every Mexican male a culturally stereotyped polarity in which “masculinity” is synonymous with the active/dominant personality and “femininity” is passive/submissive. In mestizo society, the macho …strove to overcome his sense of Indian femininity by asserting a true Spanish dominance over his women (162)

Moreover, the monumental influence of Catholicism on Latinos also increases the difficulty of proclaiming themselves "gay." Certainly the cultural forces of machismo and Catholicism among Latinos have combined to undervalue - if not foreclose - a Latino gay identity.

Another factor contributing to the paucity of writings by Latinos is located on the other side of the border where U.S. culture exercises various forms of racism. Chicano literary theorist José Saldívar (1991) has noted, for instance, that the writings of various Latinos - including Chicano gay novelist Arturo Islas (1996) who died of AIDS complications in 1991 - were rejected by various publishers and agents because the work was assumed to be either too limited or not "ethnic" enough. Self-identifying Latino gay male writers must therefore combat the dual forces of homophobia and racism. Finally, the AIDS pandemic has decimated the Latino gay male population in the United States. Homophobia, racism, and AIDS are, then, the major factors that begin to account for the lack of a Latino gay male literary heritage.

Yet there have been a few Latino gay writers who have managed to publish novels, poetry, drama, and essays that deal directly with gay themes and issues. It remains to be seen what influence these authors will have in the construction of a gay literary tradition - let alone a Latino gay tradition. From these writing, certain characteristic themes and recurring motifs can be identified as central to Latino gay men. The role of the Latino gay man within the traditional Latino family, the experience of a border identity and its ramifications within two distinct cultures, the attempts to assimilate into U.S. gay culture, and the efforts to cultivate a Latino gay culture in the United States are the most prevalent topics in Latino gay literature. Although Latino gay men employ various literary methods and traditions to tell their stories, social realism remains the primary mode of expression.

Román(2002)has written about Latino literature and while he sites the contribution of many different Latino authors, there a three that stand out as important examples of Chicano/Latino author. The first is John Rechy, the most renowned Latino gay male writer, has written about gay issues since the publication of his highly successful novel City of Night (1963). Rechy is best understood as a writer who emerged from a specific historical moment in gay history, a time before gay men of color were politically organized. His writings chart the history of a gay culture that continues to ask many gay men of color to choose between their ethnic or racial identities and their sexual identities. For Rechy, these categories have remained discrete in his work but, yet to understand seemingly inherent contradictions, it is necessary to recognize the social forces of racism and homophobia that have historically positioned Latino gay men and lesbians to choose between these categories in the first place.

Other Latino gay men have faced this dual oppression and have made their simultaneous experience of racism and homophobia the focus of their writing. The poetic novels of Chicano writer Arturo Islas, The Rain God (1984) and Migrant Souls (1991), describe the life and times of Miguel Chico, a closeted Chicano gay man. The two novels - the first and second parts of an unfinished trilogy - focus on Chico's struggles to form an identity that will resolve the tensions of his conservative Southwest Latino heritage and his new life in the gay urban culture of San Francisco. Yet rather than focusing exclusively on the perspective of Miguel Chico, Islas provides snapshots of the various members of his extended family. These stories of other family members are told in third-person narratives that move backward and forward in time and provide multiple perspectives on various intratextual events. Such narratives demonstrate the sociohistorical forces that combine to produce Miguel Chico's crisis of identity. Islas is most interested in exploring the concept of a border identity: How does one reconcile sexuality with ethnicity? What are the effects of this dilemma in the traditional and conservative Latino kinship structure? What possible spiritual growth can stem from this crisis? Islas poses these questions effectively in the domain of tragedy where individuals struggle in defeat against the social forces that undo them.

If Islas describes Latino gay identity as fundamentally tragic, Colombian born writer Jaime Manrique, in his successful cross-over novel Latin Moon in Manhattan (1992), offers the comic antidote to Islas's tragic novels. Manrique's novel describes the adventures of Santiago Martínez, a Colombian gay male immigrant living in New York City. Manrique also provides his readers with a wide-ranging portrait of his protagonist's extended family and friends, including a boyhood friend who dies of AIDS complications and a Latina lesbian motorcyclist whom his family plans for him to marry. In place of Islas's tragic approach, however, Manrique traces Santiago's madcap journey from Bogota to Times Square with full comic flair. Unlike the protagonists in the novels of Rechy and Islas, Manrique's central character is able to reconcile the various configurations of his identity. Rather than focusing on the formation of his character's pysche, Manrique chooses to concentrate on his character's multifaceted experiences as a Latino gay immigrant. By the end of the novel, when all the various plots and subplots are resolved, Manrique's protagonist is shown in the midst of his newly fashioned community, which includes family members, other nongay Latino neighbors, and non-Latino gays. The novel concludes with the central character, surrounded by his loved ones, aware finally that his life in New York, though always quirky and complicated, is joyful.

In closing, Chicano and Latino gay men have been surprisingly silent in articulating the political and personal meaning of their cultural and sexual identities, with notable exception. Given the diversity of the Chicano and Latino experience, it is difficult to accept that our experience is limited to street hustlers, tragic Chicanos or humorous immigrants. There continues to be a silence around the increasing impact of HIV in the Latino community, not just among gay Latinos but of bisexual Latinos who are able to express their sexuality with less restrictions, infecting our women at greater numbers. There is a need for Chicano writers to provide narrative of the intersection between Chicano cultural socialization and Anglo dominant culture’s categorization of “deviant” sexualities. To give voice to the strength and beauty that would otherwise be erased.

References

Goldwert, M. (1985). Mexican Machismo: The Flight from Feminity. Psychoanalytic Review, 72(1), 161-169.

Islas, A. (1984). Rain God. Del Mar, CA: HarperCollins.

Islas, A. (1991). Migrant Souls. DelMar: HarperCollins.

Islas, A. (1996). La Mollie and the king of tears Albuquerque NM University of New Mexico Press.

Manrique, J. (1992). Latin Moon in Manhattan New York: St. Martin's Press.

Merrick, G. (1970). The Lord Won't Mind. Los Angeles: Alyson Publications.

Merrick, G. (1971). One for the Gods. Los Angeles: Alyson Publications.

Merrick, G. (1974). Forth into Light. Los Angeles: Alyson Publications.

Moraga, C., & Anzaldua, G. (1984). This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (2 ed.): Kitchen Table--Women of Color Press.

Rechy, J. (1963). City of Night New York: Grove Press.

Román, D. (2002, May 15, 2006). Latino Literature. glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture Retrieved May 15, 2006, from www.glbtq.com/literature/latino_lit.html

Saldivar, J. D. (1991). Criticism in the borderlands : studies on Chicano literature, culture, and ideology. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.